If You're Leaning Progressive, A Vote For Johnson is a Vote for Trump

 I've been worried lately hearing that some former Bernie fans are leaning towards or planning to vote for the Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.   In our current two-party winner-takes-all system, that would effectively be a vote for Trump.  It would be the most anti-progressive vote you could possibly make.  But more to the point, if your goal is to vote your conscience by voting for the candidate that best reflects your values, don't vote for the libertarians.  Here's why --  Let's just take four policies advocated by Bernie Sanders and compare them with Hillary Clinton's and Gary Johnson's take on the same issue:

College Tuition:  Bernie Sanders  - "It's time to make college tuition free and debt free."

Hillary Clinton - advocates free tuition for those students with family incomes below $125,000 at in-state public colleges and universities.
   
Gary Johnson - opposes government subsidies to students, including student loans, and would open college tuition up to the "free market."

Minimum Wage:  Bernie Sanders - Increase the minimum wage up to $15/hour over the next several years

 Hillary Clinton - supports raising the minimum wage to at least $12/hour and supports workers fighting for a $15/hour minimum wage, including strengthening the rights of workers to form or join a union.

Gary Johnson - would eliminate the minimum wage and all federal wage standards.

Health Care:  Bernie Sanders  - make guaranteed health care a right of citizenship by enacting a Medicare-for-all single payer health care system. 

Hillary Clinton -  defend and enhance the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare); double the number of public health clinics in rural America; supports a public option to broaden health care choices by letting people over fifty-five buy into Medicare.

Gary Johnson -  repeal the Affordable Care Act; maintain Medicare for those who have already paid into the system; advocates "block-granting" the programs, that is moving Medicare and Medicaid to state management.  Health care should be eventually turned over to the "free market."


Citizens United Supreme Court Decision Allowing Corporations to flood political campaigns with donations as a form of free speech:  Bernie Sanders - make overturning the Citizens United decision a litmus test for any Supreme Court appointee.

 Hillary Clinton - pledged to introduce a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United within her first 30 days in office.

Gary Johnson - supports Citizens United on First Amendment grounds; anyone, including corporations, should be able to contribute as much money as they want.


So as you can see, on just these four very important issues, Hillary's positions are far closer to Bernie's than Gary Johnson's.  And there are plenty more I could have mentioned - cimate change mediation, for example -- where Bernie/Hillary's stands differ radically from Johnson's.  If you really believed in and understood what Bernie Sanders was advocating, then vote for Hillary Clinton.  Don't hand over the Presidency to the likes of Donald Trump!

 I've focused here more on the Libertarian Party candidate, but the same argument also goes for the Green Party's candidate Jill Stein.  On just about every issue involving the economy, health care, and the environment, Hillary Clinton leans much closer to Jill Stein than Johnson or Trump, and Jill Stein doesn't have a chance in hell of winning in our winner-take-all two party system.  A vote for Stein also helps Trump.  As Bernie Sanders is advocating, you need to "think hard before casting a protest vote....":

“If you are a working person, do you really think that billionaires need a large tax break? Which is what Trump is proposing. If you are an ordinary American who listens to science, do you think its a good idea that the President of the United States rejects science and says that climate change is a hoax?” he asked. “I think that if you look at the issues—raising minimum wage, building infrastructure, expanding healthcare—Clinton, by far, is the superior candidate.”  

Source: http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/discouraging_protest_vote_sanders_says_elect_clintonthen_mobilize_20160918